What is Free?
by 11Twilightcrazy
Summary: Have you ever wonder what the heck happened to all those mutants that the Flock saved at the institute in the Angel Experiment? Why did JP just get rid of them and then pretend they had never existed at all? and most importantly, what is their story? R&R!
1. Two Questions

**A/N sorry this chapter is so short, I wanted to see what people thought of my story before I got too much into it. If I get enough good reviews, I might add more, so R&R plz. If you want to read along in your Maximum Ride books, page 398 in my book (which is hard cover one) and chapter 128 is where this story starts.**

All my life, the only things that have been real have been pain and fear. Pain from those horrible experiments and fear of more pain to come.

That was my entire life up until this morning when I was awakened by the noises coming from the experiments around me in dog crates not unlike the one I was in. You heard right; here I was, a girl of about 13(I think) that had been genetically altered to have wings and was sleeping in a dog crate. They have Humane Societies for animals, so why not kids with some animal characteristics?

Anyways, I woke up and gripped onto the bars of my cage to pull myself in a sitting position and see what the heck was going on. I looked through the bars of the cage to see six kids, some that looked older than me and some that were younger, looking sadly at some of the experiments.

One of the kids; a tall, dark, guy; murmured quietly to a blonde girl, who was clearly the one in charge, "You know, we can't save them all."

She whispered back, "I'm supposed to save the whole world, remember?" What was this girl talking about? I thought. "Well, I'm gonna start with these guys." Then she started to get a random look of anger at something as if she had heard something that made her mad inside her head.

The blonde leader then turned to a pale boy with reddish-blonde hair and whispered to him, "Start popping latches." And the message was passed this way to all six of them. They then proceeded to open cages and letting every creature out.

When the blonde leader unlocked my door, I asked her the two questions that kept popping into my head every time a cage was unlocked, "Who are you? Why are you doing this?" I whispered these questions so quietly I was afraid she might not have heard them.

But, surely enough, she responded with a slight smile and a strong statement, "Kids don't belong in cages." No arguments here, I thought to myself. My saver then called out to the other kids in a loud, fearless voice, "Okay, everybody. Let's blow this joint."


	2. What Do I Do Now?

**A/N yay blackwolf412 for being my first reviewer ever!!!! U rock and I personally think that ur stories r AWESOME!!! Hopefully, once I get into mine, it'll b half as good as urs!!! ^_^ **

**Disclaimer!**

**Me: I ownz maximum ride!**

**Patterson: who on earth are you, and why are you taking credit for MY stories?!?!?**

**Readers: well, this is, umm, awkward, so we'll just step out for a second and let you guys settle this by yourselves *leaves***

**Me: you see, Mr. Patterson, when I said I owned your stories, I meant that… um, I own copies of your books, ya, that's what I meant**

**Patterson: sure you did*walks towards me angrily with fists held up***

***VIOLENT ACTION KUNG FU FIGHTING SCENE***

**Me: im sorry mr. Patterson! I don't own maximum ride!**

**Readers: *walk back in* Time for the next chapter!!!**

Refresher of what just happened: My saver then called out to the other kids in a loud, fearless voice, "Okay everybody. Let's blow this joint."

"This way!" one of the kid rescuers, a girl with dark brown curly hair and chocolate brown eyes, yelled as she helped lead the other experiments up the stairs. "Don't be afraid." She added, though it was clear that that statement didn't affect any of the experiments fear levels.

"I hear voices, be _very _afraid," said a tall pale kid with the lightest blue imaginable colored eyes and strawberry blonde hair. Weird, I didn't hear anything.

"Let's move it!" their leader ordered them. She look like she was pondering something for a moment, but then decided now wasn't the time for it and added, "Nudge! Fang! Angel! Out, out, out!" Three of the rescuers ran passed me and their leader and through an open door.

"Up the stairs!" cried the leader as we passed through the door out into a carpeted hallway. She then scooped up an experiment that had freaked out and curled up on the ground as we started up some stairs.

The dark guy, I think the leader called him Fang, opened another door into a new area that was hot and smelled horrible (although I prefer it to the antiseptic smell that meant more painful tests). I had never in my whole life been this far away from my cage or the lab, and honestly, it freaked me out. The new world that I was headed into was probably so different than what I was used to.

"Where are we?" I asked the leader. None of the other experiments had asked this yet because few of them could speak; I only knew what I had picked up from the scientists, and although I didn't know fancy words, it was a better grasp of the language than most of the experiments.

"Sewer system, under a big city, on our way to fresh air and sunlight," she said quickly, as if trying to match the pace of her words to the pace she was running at.

"But not just _yet_," growled a menacing voice that made jump ten feet in the air; half from shock, the other half from fearful recognition. It was one of the half-wolf creatures the scientist called Erasers. Not only that, but it was Ari, the cruelest one. He had been coming here every day for the last four years to torture and mock the experiments. But it seemed like he had something against bird kids, because he tortured us the worst. When he stopped showing up here a few weeks ago, I thought he was gone forever; but he was back.

And clearly he knew my rescuers. He called the leader Maximum, so he must know her. I wonder if they were the reason for his disappearance recently, my somewhat peace at mind for the last few weeks.

Maximum slowly handed me the experiment that had freaked out on the stairs and turned back to that horrible Ari and retorted, almost as menacingly, "Back again? What are you doing here? I thought Dad was keeping you on a short leash?"

Ari's fury at that statement was evident in his face and the way he clenched his fists. I glanced back at Maximum and noticed that she was making little motions behind her back with her hand, trying to tell me to get out of there. I quickly obliged; I didn't want to stick around and get sucked into this fight, because I wasn't the best fighter, having spent my whole life in a cage, and because I knew that Ari was the strongest Eraser with the biggest temper I had ever seen.

I ran down the sewer tunnel to catch up to the other rescuers, who were still helping the other experiments. I'm going to have to take care of these experiments. Just by helping us escape the rescuers have done more than they should have to, they shouldn't have to take care of us, too, I thought.

The one with curly dark brown hair and chocolate eyes turned to me and smile, despite our situation, and started talking amiably to me, "Hi, I'm Nudge, and this is Fang, Iggy, Gazzy and Angel. It sure is gross in this tunnel. And dark. I hope Fang remembers which to go to get out. It would be bad if we got lost and were stuck in here. Anyways, what's your name?" This girl sure did like to talk.

"Um… a name?" I asked. I didn't have a name. The only things I had ever been called were "that one with the wings" and "experiment 1103159" by those evil scientists. And a few cuss words when I bit them… But those aren't exactly names. "I don't have one," I answered simply.

"Really, that's terrible! We should give you one. How about Brittany Chloe Rainbow Tulip Rose…" she started but Iggy cut her off.

"Calm down, Nudge. I don't think she wants a name that long. What do you think we should call her Angel?" Iggy asked the youngest one.

"Umm, I think her name should be Alexis," she said after pondering shortly.

"Why Alexis?" I asked curiously.

"Because of what it means. I think I saw on our old TV a show about what different names mean. And Alexis means 'defender' or 'helper'. And I know that you're planning to take care of and protect these experiments," she replied. How did she know I was planning that?

"Oh, I forgot to tell you that I can read minds, didn't I?" she said, almost abashed.

"NOO!!! You can't leave us!!! I was going to have so much fun talking to you and stuff!!" Nudge cried melodramatically. I bet she would make a really good actor. Angel giggled at my thought.

"You should really stay with us, though," Fang said quietly. "At least until Max comes back and we get everything settled."

"No, you all have done so much for us already; too much, actually. And we're putting you in danger," I said, thinking about Max fighting Ari right now.

For some reason they thought that was funny, because they all burst into laughter. "You think you're causing all of the danger we've been in?!?!? That's hilarious!!!" cried Gazzy between giggles.

"But seriously, I can't stay with you and cause you more trouble. I have to take the others and go my separate way," I said.

"Fine, but I still think you should come with us," Fang said reluctantly.

A few minutes later we had made it up to the street and I had taken all of the experiments except one. Angel had sent me a message in my mind that she wanted to keep him. I sent her the thought that that was fine by me.

I said my goodbyes to them and I took the other experiment, there were 8 of them not counting me, and I left. All of my rescuers stayed at the sewer opening waiting for Max.

I lead all of the experiments to the park and we hid in the woods until dark.

I was in charge of 8 mutated creatures, I was in the woods in a park, I was only 13 myself, and I was free for the first time in my life.

Well crap, what do I do now?

**A/N so here's my second chapter. This chapter was MUCH longer than the first. Do you like it? Hate it? Have suggestions? Plz comment, it would make me very happy ^_^**


	3. AN SOOOOO Sorry!

**A/N I'm sooooo sorry every1, but I won't be able to update anything for a week!!!!! I've been really busy for the past 2 days since my niece and sister came to visit, so I only had a little bit of the next chapter done. And by little I mean a few paragraphs. Plus I had to stop right in the middle. Anyways, this week I'll b a sleep away camp with no cell phone and no computer. The only little bit of technology I might b able to bring would b my ipod, which is ancient!!!! But I'm so sry and want to thank every1 who's been reading my story. I really want to thank my reviewers because they give me the support and ideas that help make this story great!!! U guys rock my sox ^_^!!!! I hope u guys keep with me after this long week of nothingness.. see ya all in a week!!!**


	4. Money? What's Money?

**A/N I want to thank SongoftheWolf for his awesome review and being the first to favorite this story. Ur awesome dude and I loved the story Quielute Mud Battle that u co-wrote with FullMoonBallad! *-* I'd also like to thank google for helping me pick out a name for Alexis and learning what it meant! Yayz SongoftheWolf and google! Once again I'm sorry about the whole week of empty abyssness. But I'm back now!!! Yayz!!!! ^_^**

**Disclaimer:**

**Me: I don't own maximum ride unfortunately, cause JP wouldn't sell me rights to the story _ however, I was able to win max and nudge over**

**Max: *munches happily on a cookie* what can I say? She knows my weakness!**

**Nudge: THX 4 TAKING ME TO THE MALL 11TWILIGHTCRAZY!!! ZOMG I HAD SOOOO MUCH FUN!!!!**

**Me: sadly, JP's weakness is not mentioned in any of the Maximum Ride books, so basically, I'm screwed in winning him over… .oh well, guess I'll just have to keep writing these disclaimers…**

**Iggy: CHAPPIE TIME!!! *throws random bomb random erasers***

Recap: Well crap, what do I do now?

Well, here I was trying to get 8 mutants to sleep for the night when they were all riled up from the big escape. And quite frankly, it wasn't working well. Soon after sunset I had discovered that only two others in our group were capable of speaking, another bird girl of about 9 years of age and a boy who was part cat(he had claws, a tail, whiskers, and could climb really well) and about my age, and they were helping me out quite a bit.

Actually, I was a little afraid to go to sleep, myself. What if THEY came and got us in the middle of the night and we all woke up in cages? Then all the rescuers work would be for nothing, and I couldn't let that happen. I felt almost an obligation to them to remain uncaptured.

But I needed to get some sleep sometime, because I couldn't survive without it. How could I get some sleep and still have my group be guarded from THEM at the same time? Unless me and the other two I could communicate with took turns keeping watch. Oh my gosh, major breakthrough!!!!

I walked up to the other bird kid and the cat boy, stepping over a few mutants that had freaked out and curled up on the ground again.

I asked quickly, "Do you think we should take turns watching out for the scientists and the eraser?"

"That sounds smart," said the cat boy. "I'll take first watch; I don't think I could get to sleep anyhow. I'm all wired up from the escape."

"And I can take second watch!!" the younger bird girl said enthusiastically. From what I could tell, she seemed enthusiastic about everything.

"K. Then will you help me get the others 2 sleep?" I asked. "Otherwise it'll be a looooong night."

Somehow, we got all of the mutants to sleep and even I got some sleep, despite my paranoia of being captured in the middle of the night. Maybe it was because I felt safe with the cat boy watching over us all; somehow, he seem extremely trustworthy.

I slept lightly for quite some time, dreaming of all that had happened today. I woke quickly when the bird girl tapped me on the shoulder to wake me for my watch.

"Did anything happen during your shift?" I questioned her in a whisper.

"Nope. I wonder why THEY haven't found us yet…" she trailed off, seeming deep in thought.

"Ok, now get some sleep. We've got a big day tomorrow, and I want you to be bright and shiny for your first glimpse of the real world." I commanded gently. I could tell she was tired but still proud for having been given and having done well such an immensely important job.

The bird girl walked over and lay down on the comfortable enough spot that I had been using for a bed just a little bit ago. I took my spot at watch and sat with my back against a tree facing all the mutants laying on the ground asleep.

I was a little antsy, anxious to make sure everyone was okay, so after about ten minutes of sitting there jiggling my leg with anticipation and staring alertly into the darkness of the night, I went to check on the other mutants. The bid girl was sprawled out asleep next to the cat boy, who, exactly opposite of her position, was curled up into a tight ball. Then there was a scaly lizardy boy, a cat with fingers and I believe remembering it having human eyes back in the lab, though its eyes were closed now, and a boy and a girl who appeared normal but probably had something wacked up about them.

When I made it to the end of the line of mutants, my heart sank with grief and tears welled up in my eyes. The last two creatures had died during the night, probably because of the fact that the scientists were smart enough to put their vital organs on the outside of their body. I felt so horrible for them; they didn't do anything to deserve their lives however short they may have been. None of us deserved this life, but this was the life we were stuck with and I was going to make sure that it was as good as I could make it, despite our setbacks.

I turned back to sit back at that tree I had sat at earlier as I made that vow. The rest of the night I was keenly aware of every sound and movement of the mutants in their sleep.

After what seemed like forever of waiting for THEM to try and capture us and thinking of ways to defend us, the sun started to rise. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen. The sky turning first pink and then red, orange and finally the yellowness of the sun peeking out from the green, grassy horizon somehow seemed unreal.

Watching this gorgeousness I suddenly felt as if someone were awake with me and I turned to see the cat boy sitting next to me staring at the sunset as well. He saw me looking at him and gave me a little smile. We both turned silently to the sunrise again.

Soon later all the other mutants were awake and I needed to get to work taking care of them. We needed food, clothing that fit in better with the city people's attire(the wardrobe that we got at the lab consisted of a white t-shirt and white shorts for girls and just shorts for boys), and something to clean us up because we were a mess from escaping through the sewers and sleeping in the dirt.

First on the list was food. Was the a place where we could get food out here?

Quickly, I walked over to where the other bird girl was stretching and said, "You should come with me to get food while the cat boy watches over the others."

"Good plan! I'm starving! I'll go tell the cat boy your plan and them we can head off," she replied happily. She then scurried over to the cat boy and whispered to him what I had just told her and ran back over to my side and we were off.

Me and the bird girl walked through the park and out onto the crowded sidewalks of the city. It seemed that everyone had somewhere to be right away. The hustle and bustle was making me feel tired and the crowds were making me antsy; anyone of these hurrying people could be a scientist or an eraser that could snatch us up.

We came to a building that seemed to stick out more than the others that lined the street. This one had strange markings on the sides that looked kinda like this: GROCERY STORE. They made no sense to me, but I remembered seeing the scientists scribble them down onto paper. Did that mean that the scientists were in there?

But I could see food inside that sent my stomach into fits. I made a quick decision that we should be ok because I saw other people walking in and out like it was something they did regularly or like it was a chore.

We walked into the magic doors that open whenever you got near them and started filling a metal-pushy-thing(that's the technical term for it) with food, until we had a pile the size of a mountain. Then we walked out the magic door, sending a loud alarm into a frenzy.

Just then, someone came charging at us yelling, "Do you have money to pay for that?!?!?!?"

I just stared at him like a mindless idiot. What on Earth is money and why do I have to pay for the food(whatever pay means)?

**A/N I need some help people!!!! I'm horrible picking names and im gonna need a name for the cat boy, the bird girl, and maybe a few extra name for the other mutants. They don't even have to b normal names; they could b like Fang and Nudge's names. If you could give me some suggestions 4 their names I would b soooo happy and would most likely do the happy jig!!!!! So suggest some names so I don't hav to spend ten hours on google looking up names like I did 4 alexis!!!! Plz!!!**


	5. Powers, Names, and A Surprise Visit

**A/N Supernerdy mentioned liking the magical door thing in the last chapter and I did 2, but I thought I'd share my logic with u: Alexis only knows words that the scientists hav said around her and I doubt that any of them hav come to work saying "OMG I just luv the automatic doors at the grocery store. They are sooo helpful when they open by themselves!!" so she has never heard of them before. Anywayz, yayz for some name suggestions!!!!! *does happy jig* *readers laugh cause she looks like an idiot*Credit for these names and my lovely jig go to blackwolf412, SongoftheWolf, supernerdy and randomly me with filler for other characters (u can't just name a few without naming the others). *pats them on the back*u done well guyz!!! Here is exactly wat they gave me that im using:**

**Blackwolf214: cat boy: Lynx (that's a type of cat, right? I hav no idea how I passed honors science…)**

**SongoftheWolf: bird girl: Elika (means angel in another language)**

**Supernerdy: lizard boy: Hudson (supernerdy wrote the reason in the reviews, so look it up there)**

**Me!!!: normal-looking boy: Stretch (u'll find out why soon…); normal-looking girl: Shift (will also find out soon) Cat thing w/ human fingers on feet: Toes (can't possibly imagine why *rolls eyes*)**

**Don't worry if I didn't use ALL of the names u suggested, but I tried to pick at least one from every person who suggested something, and I think I got everybody.**

**Disclaimer!!(gotta luv 'em!)**

**Me: K, so I didn't Actually plan a disclaimer for this chapter and I can't come up with any more ORIGINAL ideas, so I thought I'd just hug a different character each chappie and record their reactions instead!!! So first up is fang!!! Yayz!**

**Fang: I'd rather not.**

**Me: Come on fang!!! Feel the luv!!!! *huggles fang***

**Fang: ugh, stupid crazy weirdo.**

**Me: I luv u 2 fang!!!**

**Max: Back off sista!!! HE'S MINE!!!!! *shoot's lasers out of eyes***

**Me: *lets go of fang* OWWIE!!!! THAT HURT!!**

**Fang: uhh, max did u just get a new power?**

**Max: no, I've had this ability my whole life. It only happens when I get mad, though.**

**Fang: remind me never to piss u off. Wanna go make out?!?**

**Max: sure!!! *skips merrily off with fang***

**Angel: They are soooo cute together!! CHAPPIE TIME!!!! P.S. 11Twilightcrazy doesn't ownz us.**

Recap: What on Earth is money and why do I have to pay for the food (whatever pay means)?

The man charging at us was accompanied by another woman wearing the same clothes as him and another man. Well, this should be interesting.

By now, the commotion had caused every person in the store to look towards us, making a wave of paranoia wash over me. I just wish everyone would forget everything that just happened.

Just as I made that wish, something strange happened. It felt as though my head was just relieved of a huge pressure. All three of the people charging at us suddenly stopped and looked around very confusedly (I doubt this is a word). Every person that was staring at us suddenly turned away.

"Uhh, what just happened?" the bird girl whispered to me.

"I don't know, but I think it had something to do with me. We'll talk about it back in the woods," I replied quietly.

The people that had changed at us turned around and walked away, leaving me and the bird kid free to leave with the food and the metal-pushy-thing not paid for, whatever that means.

"Maybe we should just go straight to the woods and figure out what happened. We don't particularly need new clothes and to be clean right away," I said. That incident had thoroughly freaked me out and I just wanted to be away from the human world right now.

"Ya, I can't wait to see the others!!!" She exclaimed excitedly.

So we walked back to the park pushing that metal thingy full of food through the crowded sidewalks. But strangely, nobody gave us weird looks or even really noticed us. Not that I wanted them to; actually, I was praying the entire time that we would just melt into the ground, completely forgotten in this world, and my head felt completely free of the pressure throughout my praying.

When we had made it back to the woods, the bird girl ran up to the cat boy and practically squealed the entire story to him. "We went into this building with the words GROCERY STORE written on it," she started.

"Wait, you could READ the scribbles at the top of the building?!?!?" I asked skeptically.

"Yeah," she said as uninterested as if she had told me that her favorite color was purple. "Anyways, we went inside and got a bunch of food and put it in that metal-pushy-thing over there. Then this alarm went off. Some people came at us but Alexis did something and they walked away like we weren't even there and look!" she held up a carton we had gotten that had some sort of a liquid in it. But all the writing that had been on it was gone. Had I done this too?

"This carton had writing on it when we grabbed it, but now it's gone," I clarified.

The cat boy's eyes widened when he heard that. "Is that your special power then? You erase things? First their minds and then the words written on the carton."

"I guess… Do you have any special powers?" I asked the cat boy and the bird girl.

"Oh, I know! I can tell everything about someone just by touching them!!" The bird girl grabbed my shoulder to demonstrate. "You were created on November 3rd, 1995, by a scientist named Jeb. You are 98 percent human, 60 percent German and 38 percent Irish, and 2 percent bird, half hawk and half falcon. Isn't that awesome?!?!?"

"Well, I can do this," he said as his whiskers shrank back into his face and his tail disappeared. "But that's it."

"Do you think they have powers, too?" the bird girl asked. "Let's find out!"

After an hour or so we discovered that the cat with human fingers had no real power except the ability to make Bambi eyes at me (which was highly effective on me), the seemingly normal boys could stretch his limbs, neck and torso to incredible lengths, and the seemingly normal girl could change her appearance to anything she could imagine.

After we had discovered each others' powers, the cat boy had somehow managed to start a camp fire while I and the other bird girl grabbed food from the metal-pushy-thingy and started handing it out to the others.

We were sitting around the camp fire eating the food (I was eating some things called cookies, which were much better than that mushy junk we were fed at the Institute) when the bird girl said to me, "Do you think we should pick out names for all of us like you got?"

"Sure. Why don't you pick out the names?" I replied.

"Well, we could call him Stretch since he's stretchy!" she said pointing to the normal looking boy. She then turned to the normal looking girl and said, "We should call her Shift, because of her SHIFTING appearance. What about that scaly boy over there?"

"Um, what does it say on the food container he's holding?" I asked, not able to think of any other thing to call him.

"It says 'Hudson's Ice Cream'," she replied.

"Hudson it is," I said.

"Then the cat thing should be Toes! 'Cause of the fingers on his feet," she said gleefully.

Alright, so we have Stretch, Shift, Toes, and Alexis," I summed up. "So what about you and cat boy over there?" I asked.

"I like the name Elika! Can I be Elika? Please?" she said excitedly.

"Whatever you want. And we still need a name for the cat boy," I said.

She went over and touched his shoulder, then said, "He's 10 percent lynx. Let's call him Lynx."

Lynx, finally hearing our conversation, said, "Cool, I have a name! I feel more human than ever!"

A little while later we settled down to sleep for the night. I told Lynx and Elika that I would take first watch for tonight, and they went to sleep.

Fifteen minutes later, I heard some rustling coming from the bushes. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I hoped that it wasn't THEM. My pulse rushed and I felt like my body was on hyper drive. I could now see a dark looming silhouette, and I was frantically trying to think of any fighting skills that I had, which was about as much fighting skill as a rock. This most likely was going to suck.

The silhouette step closer and I could finally make out who it was. My heart stopped with recognition of this creature.

"Ready to die, freak?" growled a menacing Erasery voice.

**A/n *eerie music* dun dun dun! gah cliffie!** **Sorry the first A/N of this chappie is sooooo long, i had a lot to say there. So I'll keep it short down here. Yayz up to 5 whole reviews, 2 favs, and almost 80 views!!! skillz!! anywayz, Review review review review review review review review!!!!! You guys got all of that?**


	6. Bliss! Can't Last

**A/N heyz peoplez!! Yayz new chappie!!! Just wanna say thx to somebody(ooh, mysterious!!) 4 their AH-mazing comment, it made me feel all warm and buttery inside(weird, now im thinking of lobster…)!! Im glad ull b getting an account soon, I absolutely LUV having mine!!! And also, for alexis's power, she can only erase written things, memories, things in computer memories, stuff like that. Im happy u guys thought the power ideas were original, they took a lot of thought. ^_^ Anywayz, on with the show!!!!!**

**Disclaimer!!! (who shall I huggle this time?)**

**Me: Iggy's turn!!!**

**Iggy: seriously?!? I thought u were kidding when u said u were going to hug every1!!!**

**Me: Nope, now come over here!!!**

**Iggy: where exactly is here? I can't see where u r!!**

**Me: Wait, I'll go get a white tarp and hang it behind me so u can see *runs off in search of white tarp***

**Iggy: this'll probably take a while, so plz read the chappie while she runs around like a mindless idiot cause she's the worst searcher in history. Oh and no way is she cool enough to ownz this!*strikes cool pose***

Recap: "Ready to die, freak?" growled a menacing Erasery voice.

OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP OH CRAP!!!!!! WHAT DO I DO??? CRAP CRAP CRAP CRAP!!

Think, Alexis think!!!! Ok, so obviously I could punch him, but I don't think he would go down with just that. So, I can kick him in his, err, area, too.

He towered way over me, probably over two feet taller than me. That was pretty discouraging. But I thought back to my rescuers and their hard work rescuing us, and I felt new strength from the rage that was running through my system like a cross country athlete.

I needed to get him away from my sleeping companions, so I edged away from them and to the park until I was actually out of the woods. Once there, we just stood glaring at each other. I was antsy to say in the least, wondering if I should attempt to attack first, or wait for him to make the first move. But he made that decision for me, knocking me down and pinning me to the ground with his hairy knees, his meaty paws clenched in a way that seemed eager to connect with my face, before I could react.

The eraser leaned over me and spoke again, his taunting smile inches from my face, "Hey Tweety. Why don't you fly away? Hahaha!!! Probably because you don't even know how to fly." With each word blew some of his nasty breath in my face.

He was right; it's pretty hard to fly in a dog crate, so I didn't have a clue. But that comment was like adding gasoline to my burning rage. I exploded, kicking him off of me and then pouncing at him with enough force to knock him to the ground. I pinned his shoulders to the ground with my knees, making this a complete switch of positions between me and him, and hit him over and over again, screaming in tempo with my hitting, "DON'T. MESS. WITH. MY. FAMILY." I hadn't really considered it before, but we were just like a normal family, except with a little animal genes mixed in.

The giant monster was just staring at me in shock. I whispered snidely into his ear, my voice full of malice, "Now why don't you go and run back to those nerds in the white coats and tell them to back the hell off!"

He was so freaked out that he just nodded in compliance. I got off of him and he ran away with his wolfy tail between his legs.

I turned to walk back to my newly proclaimed family to see Elika and Lynx standing at the edge of the woods staring at me in shock. They must've heard the ruckus* from my fight with the Eraser and come to investigate. I joined their party to walk back to my slumbering family.

Lynx said to me, "I'm glad I'm on your side," sending me into a fit of giggles.

"Ok, then, let's get to sleep. I don't think they'll be bothering us anymore," I said. My confidence level had just risen several points.

"G'night!" we said at the same time, causing another fit of giggles from all three of us. We then settled down for the rest of the night.

… I woke up panting and sweating like crazy in the morning. I had had a horrible dream last night. But the weird part was that I remembered how I had felt during the dream, but couldn't remember what had actually happened.

Everyone else seemed to already be awake, despite the fact that the sun wasn't even up yet. Elika, probably seeing my freaked out expression from the dream, asked, "Are you alright?"

"Ya, I'm fine. Just a crazy dream, I guess," I replied with a half hearted smile.

"Ooh, I had a cool dream, too," she said excitedly. "I dreamt that you and I were flying!! I think we should try to, wouldn't that be awesome?!?!?" Elika squealed excitedly.

"Sure, let's try now while all the humans are still asleep," I replied. My emotions were pretty mixed at this point. On one hand, I have always felt a strange desire to be in the air; but on the other hand, what if I couldn't fly? What if I had lost the ability being locked up in a cage all those years?

But I couldn't let my fear take over me. I pushed the thought out of my mind, or at least to the corner of my mind, and walked with Elika to the park near the woods. My wings shifted anxiously on back as we walked slowly out of the woods. We both stopped when we made it to the park.

Silently, Elika crouched down and gave a great big jump. Once in the air, she unfurled her wings, which were golden-brown streaked with a darker brown and between 11 and 12 feet from tip to tip. She gave a couple hard down strokes and was already 10 yards or so in the air. As she hovered there, waiting for me to join her, she looked so natural that I almost felt as though she had been flying her entire life, although I knew this was the first time her wings had ever lifted her off the ground.

Elika gave me a little nod to tell me it was my turn to try. I decided to use a little running start, to give myself as much momentum as possible before leaping into the air with as much force as my legs had. I whipped my wings out suddenly, and they caught the breeze almost immediately. I gave a hard down stroke and felt myself getting higher in the air. I felt muscles in my wing being used that I've never even known existed before.

With only a one more strokes I had passed up Elika, and with a few strokes after that I was above the tree line. _Oh my God, I'm flying_. Up in the air, my heart felt light with joy, and I just felt, I dunno, natural, free, and capable of anything.

"Hey, Alexis, look at your wings!!! They look awesome in the sunlight!!!" Elika called to me, with the same mood that I felt obvious in the tone of her voice.

I sorta looked over my shoulder at my wings, to see them glistening in the sun. They were pretty cool, I admitted to myself. They were about 14 feet across from tip to tip and creamy white colored with flecks of gold in them that glittered in the early morning sunlight. Although they weren't massively bulky with muscles, it was obvious that they held some serious power.

I glanced back down and saw Elika swooping nimbly around several yards below me. Her eyes were overflowing with a happiness that anyone who has never flown before wouldn't comprehend. Lynx was on the ground looking up at both Elika and me, cupping his hand against his forehead to shade the quickly rising sun's rays from his eyes. He then walked up to the nearest tree and climbed it with ease, up to the highest branch, making him just about level with me and Elika. We must've looked so happy that he wanted to join us any way he could.

I had joined Elika in her merry swooping, enjoying the warmth of the sun on my cheeks and the slight breeze ruffling my feather, when a thought popped into my mind: This is bliss. My life had completely changed from the fear and pain that those horrible people in those white jackets and the crazed Erasers gave me to bliss from being with people who actually cared about me and the freedom of the open sky.

But of course, bliss can't last, because a quick glance down revealed a small group of humans, probably early risers on the ground pointing up at Elika, Lynx, and me. A few of them had cameras, which they were clicking pictures faster than I could beat my wings. Gosh dang it!!!! Could this situation get any worse?!?!?

Actually, it can. Scanning the crowd, I noticed a man whose movements were too smooth to be human, his face to handsome to be normal. An Eraser!!!!! He had something, which I assumed to be a weapon, in his arms pointed directly at me.

**A/N: Disclaimer(still!! ;D)**

**Me: *runs back with white tarp in arms* I found it!!!!!!**

**Iggy: *sarcastically* Oh great, she's back!!!**

**Me: *hangs up tarp behind herself* ok, it's up now, so come over here and hug me!!!**

**Iggy: yeah right!! Im not touching u!! wat if the stupidness is contagious?!?!?**

**Me: u hav no choice, it's the rules!!!**

**Iggy: screw rules*throws smoke bomb and escapes***

**Me: gosh dang it!!!!**

**I just luv that word, ruckus just sounds so cool to say!! Ruckus ruckus ruckus RUCKUS RUCKUS!!!!**

**Anyway, on with the a/n!!! I just wanna say sorry for the long wait of empty abyssness, ive just been sooooooo busy!!! I mean seriously, swim team championships, summer reading assignments(I luv to read, just not stuff that teachers pick out, uck!), vacation with minimal use of internet aloud, and now prep 4 the marching band season!!!!! Im pretty much booked. But I managed to squeeze in a little bit of time 4 this story, because I already had the idea 4 this chappie and I would 4get it if I waited any longer 2 write it. Also sorry if the fight scene was God awful, but im notoriously bad at those types of , guess that's it 4 now, so c y'all l8r!!!!**


End file.
